Import/Export Price Indexes

U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes News Release

Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until USDL-19-0076
8:30 a.m. (EST) Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Technical information: (202) 691-7101 * MXPinfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/mxp
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
U.S. IMPORT AND EXPORT PRICE INDEXES - DECEMBER 2018
Prices for U.S. imports decreased 1.0 percent in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
today, after a 1.9-percent fall the previous month. Lower fuel prices drove the decline in December, and
nonfuel prices recorded no change. U.S. export prices fell 0.6 percent in December following a 0.8-percent
drop in November.
Imports
U.S. import prices declined 1.0 percent in December, after decreasing 1.9 percent in November and rising
0.5 percent in October. The November drop was the largest monthly decline since the index fell 3.2 percent
in January 2015. Prices for imports decreased 0.6 percent in 2018 following a 3.2-percent increase the
previous year. The decline in 2018 was the first calendar-year drop since import prices fell 8.3 percent in
2015. (See table 1.)
Fuel Imports: Prices for import fuel declined 9.2 percent in December, after a 13.3-percent drop the
previous month. The December decrease was driven by an 11.6-percent decline in petroleum prices which
more than offset a 30.3-percent advance in natural gas prices. Import fuel prices fell 10.4 percent in 2018
following a 21.8-percent increase the previous year. The 2018 decline is the first calendar-year decrease
since 2015, when import fuel prices fell 41.0 percent. In 2018, a 14.0-percent drop in petroleum prices more
than offset a 67.6-percent increase in prices for natural gas.
All Imports Excluding Fuel: Prices for nonfuel imports recorded no change in December, after declining
0.3 percent in November. Higher prices for consumer goods; automotive vehicles; and foods, feeds, and
beverages offset price declines for capital goods and nonfuel industrial supplies and materials. Nonfuel
import prices advanced 0.5 percent in 2018 following a 1.3-percent rise in 2017. The price index for nonfuel
imports has not recorded a calendar-year decline since a 3.4-percent drop in 2015. In 2018, higher prices for
nonfuel industrial supplies and materials; consumer goods; and automotive vehicles drove the increase in
nonfuel import prices.
Nonfuel Industrial Supplies and Materials: Prices for nonfuel industrial supplies and materials edged down
0.1 percent in December, after falling 0.2 percent the previous month. A 0.9-percent decline in prices for
chemicals drove the December decrease.
Finished Goods: Finished goods prices were mostly up in December. Prices for consumer goods and
automotive vehicles each ticked up 0.1 percent. In contrast, capital goods prices edged down 0.1 percent.
Foods, Feeds, and Beverages: Foods, feeds, and beverages prices rose 0.1 percent in December, after
declining 2.2 percent the previous month. The December increase was led by a 10.9-percent advance in
vegetable prices.
Table A. Percent change in Import and Export Price Indexes, selected categories

Exports
U.S. export prices fell 0.6 percent in December following a 0.8-percent decrease in November.
Nonagricultural prices declined in December, more than offsetting higher prices for agricultural goods.
Despite the December downturn, U.S. export prices increased 1.1 percent in 2018. The price index for U.S.
exports has not recorded a calendar-year decrease since falling 6.6 percent in 2015. (See table 2.)
Agricultural Exports: Prices for agricultural exports advanced 3.9 percent in December, the largest
increase for the index since a 4.8-percent rise in August 2012. The December advance follows a 1.7-percent
rise in November and a 0.1-percent drop in October. Price increases for soybeans and nuts contributed to the
December advance, more than offsetting lower fruit prices. Agricultural export prices rose 2.5 percent in
2018, after increasing 1.9 percent in 2017. The 2018 increase was the largest calendar-year advance since
the price index for agricultural exports rose 13.4 percent in 2012.
All Exports Excluding Agriculture: Prices for nonagricultural exports decreased 1.1 percent in December,
after declining 1.0 percent in November and rising 0.5 percent in October. The December drop matched the
decrease in December 2015; those were the largest monthly declines since the index fell 1.3 percent in
August 2015. Lower prices for nonagricultural industrial supplies and materials led the December decrease,
more than offsetting rising consumer goods and automotive vehicles prices. Despite the December decline,
nonagricultural export prices advanced 1.0 percent in 2018.
Nonagricultural Industrial Supplies and Materials: The price index for nonagricultural industrial supplies
and materials decreased 3.4 percent in December, the largest monthly decline since falling 3.7-percent in
August 2015. An 8.4-percent drop in prices for export fuel drove the December decline.
Finished Goods: Finished goods prices mostly rose in December. The price indexes for consumer goods and
automotive vehicles each ticked up 0.1 percent. Export capital goods prices recorded no change in
December following a 0.1-percent drop in November. In 2018, automotive vehicles export prices rose 0.9
percent, the largest calendar-year increase since advancing 2.6 percent in 2011.
Measures of Import and Export Prices by Locality
Imports by Locality of Origin: The price index for imports from China recorded no change in December.
Prices for imports from China decreased 0.2 percent in 2018 and have not risen on a calendar-year basis
since advancing 3.6 percent in 2011. Import prices from Japan edged down 0.1 percent for the second
consecutive month in December. Despite the monthly decreases, prices for imports from Japan rose 1.0
percent in 2018. Prices for imports from Canada declined 1.5 percent in December and fell 6.1 percent in
2018, the largest calendar-year drop since a 15.1-percent decrease in 2015. The price index for imports from
Mexico declined 0.5 percent in December and prices for imports from the European Union fell 0.1 percent
over the same period. (See table 7.)
Exports by Locality of Destination: Export prices to China decreased 0.3 percent in December following a
0.1-percent drop the previous month. The price index for exports to China declined 1.5 percent in 2018.
Prices for exports to Japan fell 0.2 percent in December, after recording no change in November and rising
0.2 percent in October. In 2018, export prices to Japan rose 0.5 percent. Prices for exports to Canada
increased 2.2 percent in December, and advanced 7.3 percent in 2018. The price index for exports to
Mexico fell 0.9 percent in December. Despite the monthly decrease, export prices to Mexico increased 1.6
percent in 2018. Prices for exports to the European Union declined 0.7 percent in December, after rising in
each of the previous 3 months. The December drop was the largest 1-month decrease for export prices to the
European Union since the index was first published in December 2017. In 2018, export prices to the
European Union advanced 3.2 percent. (See table 8.)
Terms of Trade Indexes: Terms of Trade indexes are based on country, region, or grouping and measure
the change in the purchasing power of exports relative to imports. The index for U.S. terms of trade with
China decreased 0.3 percent in December, driven by decreasing export prices to China. Overall, the U.S.
terms of trade with China declined 1.3 percent in 2018. The U.S. terms of trade with Japan edged down 0.1
percent in December following 0.1-percent increases the previous 2 months. In 2018, the index for U.S.
terms of trade with Japan fell 0.5 percent. The U.S. terms of trade with Canada rose 3.8 percent in
December, and increased 14.3 percent in 2018. The index for U.S. terms of trade with the European Union
declined 0.6 percent in December and the U.S. terms of trade with Mexico fell 0.4 percent. Despite the
monthly decreases, the U.S. terms of trade with the European Union and Mexico each advanced 1.8 percent
in 2018. (See table 9.)
Import and Export Services
Imports: The index for import air passenger fares rose 7.6 percent in December following increases of 0.7
percent in November and October. Higher Asian and Latin American/Caribbean fares drove the rise in
December. Import air passenger fares advanced 1.8 percent in 2018, after increasing 4.2 percent in 2017.
Prices for import air freight decreased 2.7 percent in December following a 0.7-percent advance the
previous month. The index for import air freight prices rose 4.1 percent in 2018 and has not recorded a
calendar-year decrease since falling 3.1 percent in 2015. (See table 10.)
Exports: Export air passenger fares advanced 1.4 percent in December, after edging up 0.1 percent the
previous month. Higher Asian and European fares contributed to the monthly increase. The index for export
air passenger fares fell 5.0 percent in 2018 following a 5.8-percent drop in 2017. Prices for export air freight
declined for the second consecutive month in December, edging down 0.1 percent. Despite the monthly
decrease, export air freight prices rose 3.4 percent in 2018, the largest calendar-year increase since a 5.8-
percent advance in 2014.
Import and Export Price Index data for January are scheduled for release on Friday, February 15, 2019 at
8:30 a.m. (EST).

Table 1. U.S. import price indexes and percent changes for selected categories of goods: December 2017 to December 2018[2000=100, unless otherwise noted]

Footnotes(1) Relative importance figures are based on 2016 trade values.

NOTES: Data may be revised in each of the 3 months after original publication.
Dash = Not available

TECHNICAL NOTE
Import and Export Goods and Services Price Indexes - All indexes use a modified Laspeyres
formula and are not seasonally adjusted. Price indexes are reweighted annually, with a 2-year lag in the
weights. Published series use a base year of 2000=100 where possible. More detailed index series and
additional information may be obtained at www.bls.gov/mxp or by calling (202) 691-7101.
Merchandise Goods Classification Systems - The merchandise price indexes are published using three
classification systems. Items are classified by end use according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis
Classification System, by industry according to the North American Industry Classification System
(NAICS), and by product category according to the Harmonized System (HS). While classification by
end use and product category are self-explanatory, some notes are in order for classifying items by
industry. In the NAICS imports and exports tables, items are classified by output industry, not input
industry. As an example, NAICS import index 326 (plastics and rubber products manufacturing)
includes outputs such as manufactured plastic rather than inputs such as petroleum. The NAICS
classification structure also matches the classification system used by the Producer Price Index (PPI) to
produce the NAICS primary products indexes.
Import Price Goods Indexes - Items are classified by the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States Annotated (TSUSA). Import prices are based on U.S. dollar prices paid by the U.S. importer. The
prices are generally either "free on board" (f.o.b.) foreign port or "cost, insurance, and freight" (c.i.f.)
U.S. port transaction prices, depending on the practices of the individual industry. The index for crude
petroleum is calculated from data collected by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Export Price Goods Indexes - Items are classified by the Harmonized Schedule B classification system
of the U.S. Bureau of the Census. The prices used are generally either "free alongside ship" (f.a.s.)
factory or "free on board" (f.o.b.) transaction prices, depending on the practices of the individual
industry. Prices used in the grain index, excluding rice, are obtained from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
Services Price Indexes - Indexes for import and export air passenger fares calculate changes in the
average revenue received per passenger by foreign carriers from U.S. residents and by U.S. carriers from
foreign residents, respectively. Data are obtained from an airline consulting service and report on tickets
sold by travel agencies, travel websites, and directly by the airlines. Taxes and fees are included in both
the import and export air passenger fares indexes. Import air passenger fares data have used the airline
consulting service source since September 2008. Before April 2018, the export air passenger fares data
were collected directly by BLS from U.S. airlines. The air freight indexes are calculated from data
collected directly from airlines. These data exclude mail and passenger baggage. The scope of the
service being priced is the movement of freight from airport to airport only, and does not include any
ground transportation or port service. The air freight indexes are presented using two definitions:
balance of payments (which represents transactions between U.S. and foreign residents) and
international (which represents transactions inbound to and outbound from the United States.) Fact
sheets specifying detailed information for each services industry are available at www.bls.gov/mxp
under "MXP Publications."
Import Price Indexes by Locality of Origin - Prices used in these indexes are a subset of the data
collected for the import price indexes. The indexes are specific to a country, region, or grouping and,
beginning with January 2002, are based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
covering goods-producing industries. Nonmanufactured goods are defined as NAICS 11 and 21, and
manufactured goods are defined as NAICS 31-33.
Export Price Indexes by Locality of Destination - Prices used in these indexes are a subset of the data
collected for the export price indexes. The indexes are specific to a country, region, or grouping and are
based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) covering goods-producing
industries. Nonmanufactured goods are defined as NAICS 11 and 21, and manufactured goods are
defined as NAICS 31-33.
Terms of Trade Indexes - Terms of trade indexes measure the relative price of exports in terms of
import prices for a specific country, region, or grouping. The indexes are calculated as one country,
region, or grouping's all-export goods price index divided by the corresponding all-import goods price
index on a scale of 100.
Relative Importance - A relative importance is a specific index's price-updated value share (expressed
as a percentage) of overall imports or exports at a specific point in time. Relative importance values are
affected by the trade weights at the point indexes are reweighted and index changes relative to other
indexes since the reweight point. If an index is rising in value relative to other indexes over time, the
relative importance will increase as well.
Revision Policy - To reflect the availability of late reports and corrections by respondents, monthly data
may be revised in each of the 3 months after original publication. After 3 months, no further data
revisions take place. For example, data first published in the January release will be subject to revision
in the releases for February, March, and April.
Rounding Policy - Index values are rounded to the tenth decimal place after being calculated. All
percent changes are then derived from the rounded index values and subsequently rounded to the tenth
decimal place.
Uses of the Data - The primary use of the indexes is to deflate trade statistics, notably the foreign trade
sector of the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) constructed by the Department of
Commerce. Other published indexes are useful for general market analysis. For trade in international
services, balance of payments indexes are used for deflating NIPA, while international indexes are more
appropriate for market analysis.
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Additional Information - More detailed data are available on the Import/Export Price Indexes home
page at www.bls.gov/mxp. For import and export price indexes data requests, send an email to
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